By Lance Cpl. Skyler Tooker Staff Sgt. Jordan Kramp, a member of the Marine Corps Shooting team, shows his newly earned awards at the 2008 Marine Corps Pistol and Rifle Awards Ceremony Friday.

Shooters from around the Corps came together at Quantico the two preceding weeks to prove their mettle on the ranges. To compete in the championship, each Marine had to shoot in the top 10 percent of one of the Corps’ three division matches.

Several awards were handed out, including the McDougal Trophy, Lauchheimer Trophy, Inter-Division Pistol Team Trophy, Inter-Division Rifle Team Trophy, Walsh Trophy and Fleet Marine Force Combat Infantry Trophy.

But the awards were only a part of the competitive shooting program.

‘‘The biggest thing and the reason why we are here is to spread the [marksmanship] knowledge to the junior Marines [at bases, stations and depots] and make them better marksmen,” said Staff Sgt. Jordan Kramp, member of the Marine Corps Shooting team and recipient of several awards.

These matches are held to encourage and to better learn the basic fundamentals in order to spread them throughout the Marine Corps.

‘‘The fundamentals of marksmanship do not change whether you pick up a rifle, pistol or a slingshot – it really doesn’t matter,” Kramp said. ‘‘Once a shooter understands the fundamentals of sight alignment and sight picture, he or she can virtually pick up any weapon and put accurate rounds on target.”

After Kramp shot in his first Marine Corps pistol and rifle championship, he understood what the fundamentals were and executed them, earning many awards.

‘‘This time around I understand the fundamentals fully now,” Kramp said. ‘‘I learned how to implement the fundamentals better than most people.”

The leathernecks who go to the Marine Corps championships go through the fundamentals and learn tricks that others don’t. They then have new knowledge to give back to their unit.

‘‘Unfortunately, throughout the years, the program has been hurting as far as participants and getting well rounded individuals. We need to do a better job of spreading the word,” Kramp said. ‘‘We need talk to our senior enlisted and commanders and let them know how important it is to participate in these programs. It is going to travel back to their units and makes everyone good shooters who can put accurate rounds on the target. That is what the Marine Corps is about.”

Each Marine receives a trophy, which their command can put on display to interest young Marines.

‘‘It’s not about the medals, trinkets and ribbons on your chest,” Kramp said. ‘‘If we can’t take that knowledge and transfer it into words to teach the younger Marines how important the fundamentals are, then everything on your chest means nothing, and you’re just wasting precious medals.”